armers of those days. Oxen
were more powerful than asses. Horses were seldom seen at all. They
were used chiefly in war by the great military emperors of Egypt and
Assyria.

+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| [Illustration: EGYPTIAN PLOWING |
| (Similar to Hebrew Method.)] |
| |
| [Illustration: EGYPTIANS THRESHING AND WINNOWING |
| (Hebrews used same methods.)] |
| |
| [Illustration: EGYPTIAN OR HEBREW THRESHING FLOOR] |
| |
| Cuts on this page used by permission of the Palestine Foundation |
| Fund. |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

=Driving an ox team.=--So we can imagine the young Canaanites of those
days watching a Hebrew farmer taking his first lesson with a team of
oxen. There was a wooden yoke to lay on their necks; there was the
two-wheeled farm cart with its long tongue to be fastened to the yoke.
There was the goad, a long pole with a sharp point, to stick into the
animals' flanks if they should balk. And probably there were many
useful tricks to be learned; for example, words like our "Gee" and
"Haw" and "Whoa," to shout at the animals when it was necessary to
turn to the left or the right or to stop altogether.

Plowing was one of the most difficult of the tasks to be done with
oxen. The furrows had to be run straight and true. And the plows were
clumsy affairs--not like our shining steel plows to-day--just a long
pole with a short diagonal crosspiece, sharpened at the lower end, or
tipped with a small bronze share.

CROPS OF ANCIENT CANAAN

The Hebrews raised the same crops as the earlier Canaanites. The
leading ones were wheat, barley, olives, grapes, and figs. The two
grain crops were, of course, the most necessary to life. They were
planted in the early spring, and harvested in the summer. The grain
was sown broadcast, by hand, just as Jesus describes in his great
parable of the sower.

=Ancient agriculture.=--Harvesting and threshing were done almost
entirely by hand. The grain was cut with sickles. Some of the old